New England Conference on Multicultural Education

For 18 years I had the pleasure of being part of the largest regional conference on multicultural education in the U.S., called the New England Conference on Multicultural Education (NECME).

The first NECME conference was held on April 23, 1996 at the Sheraton Hotel in Hartford CT. We had 250 attendees. The Governor came to greet the audience. Our 18^th and last conference was on October 16, 2013. We had 1,832 people in attendance.

Over the years we were able to bring some of the top scholars in the field to the country’s largest regional conference on multicultural education. At first we had very little money but people like Christine Sleeter and Sonia Nieto offered to come and speak basically for bus fare.

I wanted to share some of the highlights from our 18 years.

In 2006, Kevin Jennings, the Founder of GLSEN – the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network – attracted a huge number of students and blew the roof off the house with a fiery speech that gave me chills.

In 2007, the famous Ronald Takaki, who created one of the first ethnic studies course in the country, gave one of his last keynote speeches before he passed away.

In 2009, with just a few days notice Carl Grant came to take the place of our scheduled keynote speaker who had taken ill suddenly. He was a huge hit.

In 2011, James Banks, who many consider to be the Father of Multicultural Education was our keynote speaker but almost as amazing was the person who came to introduce him flew all the way from Tokyo, Japan. Dr. Seiki Kawasaki, a professor of multicultural education was clearly a big fan

Lee Mun Wah, the producer of the award-winning film The Color of Fear was so popular he was invited back three times.

Keynote Speakers

1. April 23, 1996 > Valerie Ooka Pang – Sheraton Hartford Hotel
2. April 30, 1997 > G. Pritchy Smith – Radisson Hotel & Conference Center, Cromwell
3. Oct. 22, 1998 > Linda Christensen, Christine Sleeter, Sonia Nieto – Hartford Marriott Hotel
4. Oct. 26-27, 1999 > Beverly Daniel Tatum, Donna Gollnick, Jill Christianson –Sheraton, Waterbury
5. Oct. 25, 2000 > Carl Grant, Jeanne Oakes–Sheraton, Waterbury
6. Oct. 25, 2001 > Louise Derman Sparks –Sheraton, Waterbury
7. Oct. 16, 2002 > Lee Mun Wah – Hartford Marriott Hotel
8. Oct. 16, 2003 > James W. Loewen – Hartford Marriott Hotel
9. Oct. 18, 2004 > Enid Lee – Hartford Marriott Hotel
10. Oct. 17, 2005 > Lewis Diuguid, Carl Grant, Christine Sleeter, Philip C. Chinn, Sonia Nieto- Hartford Marriott Hotel
11. Oct. 16, 2006 > Kevin Jennings- Hartford Marriott Hotel
12. Oct. 11, 2007 > Ronald Takaki, Beth Harry- CT Convention Center
13. Oct. 8, 2008 > Carlos E. Cortés, Donna Gollnick, Lee Mun Wah- CT Convention Center
14. Oct. 21, 2009 > Carl Grant – University of Hartford
15. Oct. 14, 2010 > Gloria Ladson-Billings – Hartford Marriott Hotel
16. Sept. 27, 2011 > James E, Banks, Kris Gutiérrez, Lee Mun Wah – CCSU
17. Oct. 18, 2012 > Jacqueline Jordan Irvine, Christine Sleeter, Lee Mun Wah – CCSU
18. Oct. 16, 2013 > Sonia Nieto, Dimitry Anselme, James Lowen – CCSU

Last NECME Conference —18th Annual New England Conference on Multicultural Education (NECME) was held at Central Connecticut State University, New Britain, CT on Wed. Oct. 16, 2013 from 8:30-4:00.